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<title>The Price by AJediLikeHisFather, howls, Libby_25cSoda, MissChrisDaae, SalviaOfficinalis, SilverDaye, SpellCleaver, VanillaChip101</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29967801">The Price</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJediLikeHisFather/pseuds/AJediLikeHisFather'>AJediLikeHisFather</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/howls/pseuds/howls'>howls</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Libby_25cSoda/pseuds/Libby_25cSoda'>Libby_25cSoda</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissChrisDaae/pseuds/MissChrisDaae'>MissChrisDaae</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalviaOfficinalis/pseuds/SalviaOfficinalis'>SalviaOfficinalis</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverDaye/pseuds/SilverDaye'>SilverDaye</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellCleaver/pseuds/SpellCleaver'>SpellCleaver</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaChip101/pseuds/VanillaChip101'>VanillaChip101</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Darth Vader Lives, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Luke Skywalker Needs A Hug, Mentioned Ahsoka Tano, Mentioned CT-7567 | Rex, Necromancy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:47:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,955</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29967801</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJediLikeHisFather/pseuds/AJediLikeHisFather, https://archiveofourown.org/users/howls/pseuds/howls, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Libby_25cSoda/pseuds/Libby_25cSoda, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissChrisDaae/pseuds/MissChrisDaae, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalviaOfficinalis/pseuds/SalviaOfficinalis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverDaye/pseuds/SilverDaye, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellCleaver/pseuds/SpellCleaver, https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaChip101/pseuds/VanillaChip101</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Luke goes to a necromancer to try to contact his dead father, more is revealed than either of them ever expected.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luke Skywalker &amp; Darth Vader, Padmé Amidala &amp; Luke Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>155</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Price</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story was written as a game called Story Popcorn where one person writes a small bit then someone else writes another bit and so on. This game was played on the Star Wars Creatives Discord: https://discord.gg/Z3fgVMx</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You do know the price is high to bring back the dead?" the necromancer asked, voice raspy. Luke couldn't see much of the sorcerer, covered completely as he was in a long black cloak and hood. </p><p>"Yes," Luke said. "I'm willing to pay it." </p><p>"Very well. Who do you want to bring back?" </p><p>"My father, Anakin Skywalker."</p><p>The man flinched. “What did you say?” </p><p>“My, my father, Anakin Skywalker. What, did you know him?” </p><p>“What’s your name, boy?” There was something about the necromancer's tone, something beyond simply anger or curiosity, but Luke couldn't pinpoint the precise emotion.</p><p>“Luke.”</p><p>"Luke what?" the man growled. </p><p>"Luke. Just Luke." He knew not to give out his full name to a sorcerer. There was a long uncomfortable silence filled only with the sound of raspy breathing.</p><p>“Why do you wish to bring Anakin Skywalker back? He's been dead for over a decade." Softly, the sorcerer exhaled. "You look to be about the right age, and I've heard rumors of the royal family of Naboo... well. Do you wish to meet the father you never met?" The man walked a slow circle around him, and Luke fought the urge to keep him in his line of sight. It was a bad idea to anger a necromancer, right next to <em>seeking a necromancer out</em>. </p><p>"No," Luke says, and it was like the air had been ripped from his lungs. He didn't know if it was the necromancer doing this to him...or if it was his own body trying to betray him. "But there's something I need from him."</p><p>The figure stopped behind Luke, and he tried his best to not turn around or make any sudden movements. He touched the lightsaber hilt on his waist in comfort, the warm glow of the crystal radiating light within. </p><p>"What do you need?" The necromancer asked, his voice raising the hairs on Luke's neck. </p><p>It was said to not tell the necromancer of what you wanted, for they would use it against you. And he wasn't some naive boy that would outright say what he needed, not anymore.</p><p>"That business is between him and I," Luke said, trying to keep his voice even and calm. </p><p>"Then I cannot help you." </p><p>"What?" Luke said spinning around and glaring up directly into the hood. A cold chill ran down his back as he saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring back at him. "I'm willing to pay any price! I have everything you would need." </p><p>"Do you, boy? Even the body?"</p><p>Luke’s brows furrowed. The body. The body that had disappeared alongside the slaughter at the Jedi Temple, the one corpse of a Jedi - or former Jedi - that no one could locate. There was no corpse to show for Anakin Skywalker, but that wasn't going to stop him from bringing his father back.</p><p>The hooded man took his silence for the no that it was. “Without the body, the price will be much higher. You would need something to act as a vessel. Or someone to use as a host.” </p><p>Luke gulped nervously at that, mind racing. “What would happen if...if there were a host? I don't want to hurt anyone.”</p><p>"Do you have <em>any </em>idea how dangerous that is, young one? The consciousness of the deceased could overpower you and claim your body. If your soul is untethered for too long, it will be lost forever. The dead will claim your body as its own." </p><p>"I...I don't think my father would do that." </p><p>"How can you say that, if you never knew him?"</p><p>The necromancer was right. He hadn’t known his father, only heard warnings about the terror Vader wreaked. He hadn’t heard any old stories about Anakin during the Clone Wars from anybody else except Ben, but he was dead now. He couldn't reach out to the famed Captain Rex, who was known for being the last survivor of his kind. But what surprised him was how the figure before him knew. How did he know about Luke's and Anakin's meeting, about how they never truly bonded to become father and son?</p><p>Luke eyed the man in front of him warily. How did he know that? </p><p>"How do you know that? You don't even know who I am." </p><p>"You are Luke." The man said it like it was so simple, that he was just Luke, not the son of Darth Vader, not a member of the royal family of Naboo, not the only remaining Jedi, just... Luke.</p><p>It was refreshing, and for a moment Luke wanted to let it distract him- but then he steeled his resolve.  "I am Luke," he agreed. "And I never knew my father. I want to speak to him, I need to know about— I am willing to pay whatever price." </p><p>The necromancer tapped four, black-gloved fingers against the table. "You want to know to know about what?" </p><p>"I <em>need </em>to know. And," he repeated shakily, "that is between him and I."</p><p>There was a long silence. </p><p>"Perhaps," the sorcerer said. His words were slow and drawn out. "There is another way for you to commune with your lost father. One that isn't as... risky." </p><p>Luke knew that altering the deal, especially on the sorcerer's terms, could go bad, but he was curious.</p><p>"What, exactly, do you mean by that?" he asked. A little sharply, but this was a tense situation. </p><p>The necromancer was quiet for a moment, then he laughed lowly. "So you are capable of some caution, are you, young one?" </p><p>"Don't call me that," Luke shot back, not liking the prickling sensation that crawled down his spine. "And don't avoid my question. What do you mean; my father is dead, the only way to talk to him-"</p><p>"Is by raising his dead spirit and placing it in a body?" The sorcerer sounded amused. "You know very little of the arcane and dark arts. Come." </p><p>He turned around and disappeared into the darkness. Luke hesitated, but then marched after him. He soon found himself in an empty room save for a stone pedestal on which sat a silver bowl filled with milky water. </p><p>"Put a drop of your blood in there," the man said waving at the bowl.</p><p>Luke hesitated. "Are you sure that that's safe?" </p><p>The man only seemed even more amused. "Safe? Theoretically." </p><p>"Have you ever used this method on your other clients?" </p><p>This time, the man smiled, and Luke thought he saw a flash of white teeth under the hood. "I can say with complete honesty that I have not." </p><p>"Then why should I trust you?" </p><p>"Did I ask for trust?"</p><p>"What does it do?" Luke asked as he stepped up to the bowl. "I'm not naive enough to toss my blood in there carelessly." </p><p>"It's a scrying bowl. Those are tears from the moon goddess herself, or so they say. It lets you <em>see</em>." </p><p>Luke swallowed. "What will I see?"</p><p> "I do not know... not yet, at least. You will see what you want to see." </p><p>"And how do I know that what I want to see is the truth?" </p><p>The necromancer sighed. "You know, young one, if my father was a dead war criminal, I'd be far more open to kind lies about him than the harsh truths you seem so intent on."</p><p>"What is the price?" Luke asked softly. "There is always a price. A price for this magic to work. A price to let me use this magic." </p><p>"Your blood is the price to get the magic to work." The necromancer sounded annoyed. </p><p>"And your payment will be?"</p><p>The necromancer's annoyance seemed to fade, his tone softening to almost gentleness. "My payment is enough, young one. It will come, and you will not find it a burden." </p><p>Luke scowled at the nickname again. "I would feel much better if I knew what it is." </p><p>"Ah, but you have come to me." There was a sparkle of humor in his tone; he spread his arms in a flourish, "and I deal in the unknown."</p><p>Luke looked down at the milky water. He didn’t know what to do. He had come here so ready to raise his father’s spirit that he would even offer his own body up. But this... there had to be a catch. It couldn’t be this simple. If so, why had he never heard of this before?</p><p>The necromancer moved, quick and jerking, and Luke realized abruptly that the tension in the room was not confined to him. He wasn't the only one holding his breath. </p><p>He turned to inspect him, eyes narrowing on the dark hood, the singular white chin he could faintly see underneath it. There was something familiar there, though it was not his gait nor his clothes, nor even that scarred cleft chin. Something was wrong, and the necromancer tensed even further under his gaze. </p><p>Tensed, and snapped, "Well, boy? Now...or never."</p><p>“What? Now? Surely it can wait. Let me think. Weren’t you the one just lecturing me on thinking this through?”</p><p>The room seemed to grow colder and the hairs on the back of Luke’s neck stood on end.</p><p>"<em>Now</em>," came the replying growl, and the temperature continued to plummet. "I do not have infinite patience, and the dark arts certainly have none at all." </p><p>Luke recognized something in his speech pattern, then. </p><p>Not the voice; the voice was utterly alien; but the <em>way he talked.</em>..something about it, like the strict Imperial speeches he heard in his youth...he looked back at the scrying bowl. </p><p>"Why do I need this to speak to my father?" he asked quietly.</p><p>There were dozens of questions he could ask, but only one that truly mattered. He needed to know. </p><p>Had his father, General and Consort to Queen Amidala, betrayed their country to the Empire by killing the queen?</p><p>And the scrying bowl could give him the answers, possibly. </p><p>But...a feeling he had, a tiny, niggling feeling told him that this necromancer could as well. </p><p>So he turned to him. "Did my father kill my mother?" The necromancer's mouth dropped open, but before he could say anything, Luke barrelled on. "Well?" His eyes were burning. "Did you?"</p><p>All Luke saw was a blur of blackness then let out a shout of pain. He stuck his finger in his mouth and tasted blood. </p><p>Blood? </p><p>No! </p><p>He looked down to see red drops staining the milky water.</p><p>“What...?" Weakness flooded him; it was suddenly difficult to breathe, darkness wafting in his head and vision, consuming it as the necromancer-as Vader-turned him around to face him, catching him as he sagged. He ran a hand through his hair. "Why..." </p><p>"Shhhh, Luke." The hood had fallen down to reveal Vader's scarred bald head, his golden eyes looking over him hungrily, even as two gloved fingers came to slide his eyes closed. </p><p>Just before he lost consciousness, he heard, "It will be alright. You're going to come with me now...and I will explain everything."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Luke, look carefully. This is your mother. Queen Amidala.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Luke looked at the painting of the beautiful woman with a white face and red lips. This was his mother? She looked very pretty. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What about my father?” he asked. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Aunt Sabé’s face twisted.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"We don't talk about him," she said. Although her tone was gentle towards him, there was so much anger in it. "He is not worthy of your name." </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Luke wanted to ask more, but there were more paintings of his mother to see and more things to do that day. So he just let Aunt Sabé lead him away. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>As he was blinking at the next portrait, one of an old man in fine purple robes, the memory changed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Luke looked at the mural depicting the Battle of Naboo. He easily recognized his mother, standing in the center in a white dress. Surrounding her were her handmaidens and generals. But Luke’s eye was caught on one small figure directly next to her. The face had been scratched out and the word ‘traitor’ had been painted across the body…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>...Then he was in a hidden tunnel, then a bunker, and the guards around him were whispering <strong>“him”</strong> and<strong> “how dare he” </strong>and when Luke started to cry, Sabé held him tight against her chest and cursed under her breath...</em>
</p><p><em>When he was older, Luke was left with a guard.</em> “<em>It will only be for a few moments, little star,”</em> <em>Aunt Sabé murmured to him.</em> </p><p><em>By the time Aunt Sabé returned, the guard was gone, and he was found on the ground, a bloody mark left behind on his face.</em> </p><p>
  <em>He never understood why Aunt Sabé couldn’t look at him anymore. Luke didn’t know the mark was the exact same as his father’s.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Skywalker? That’s a cursed name, lad. Best you don’t go speaking it.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The older Luke got the more frustrated he was. Why would no one speak of his father? Why did they curse and scowl at any mention of Anakin Skywalker?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Anakin Skywalker was a hero and his father. Why did everyone seem to hate him? He just wished he could prove to them that his father was a good man! </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Anakin Skywalker was cursed. And so are you, since you use that name," a man once told him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>His father was not cursed and he would prove it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He was sure that Anakin wasn't a traitor. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>He hadn't killed Luke's mother. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>He was sure of it. </em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>You are correct. I did not. </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Luke opened his eyes.</p><p>The necromancer - <em>Vader</em> - was still there, silently watching him. Luke turned around, now more confused than ever.</p><p>"Then, what happened? If it wasn't you who killed my mother, who was it?" </p><p>The necromancer just stared, conjuring up his thoughts. Luke waited patiently, ready for the truth.</p><p>"Your mother was in danger," Vader said, slowly and clearly. Luke winced and glanced around as every word sent spikes through his temple. He wasn't in the necromancer's little salon now; the scrying bowl was nowhere to be seen. He was lying on a bed, a cold compress sitting in a bowl on the table beside him, with the curtains on the window pulled tightly shut. </p><p>His head still pounded from Vader's attack, his throat was dry and raspy, his hand shaky...but if he was finally getting answers, no amount of ill state was going to see him turn them down; he had waited far too long. "And?" Luke prompted.</p><p>"And...I was trying to save her," Vader continued.</p><p>The tension was palpable and Luke gulped, the cold air running through his nose. </p><p>"I had visions of her dying, and you must understand, I loved her with all of me. I would've done anything to make sure she lived." </p><p>Luke didn't like where this was going. Va- <em>Anakin</em>, Anakin continued with his explanation, “She was...pregnant. I would not only be losing her but you as well, and I would not allow it. I knew there was something, some magic, out there that could save. I thought I had found it...I...” </p><p>“What price?” Luke asked. He could put the pieces together. His father had found some magic and used it to try and save his mother.</p><p>“You have to understand this. This was for your mother. For your sister. For<em> you</em>,” Anakin urged. Luke still didn’t get what his father was trying to say.</p><p>"Tell me what price!" Luke tried to reach out, but Vader— Anakin— his <em>father</em> seemed to melt into shadows, pulling out of reach. </p><p>"If you want me to understand, then explain it to me! Don't I deserve that much?"</p><p>Luke stood up, unsteady on his feet, and walked towards Anakin. "Father, please, I just want to understand what happened." </p><p>His father looked down to the ground, then back up at Luke. "You should be sitting down, young one." </p><p>Luke shook his head and waited for an answer. What was the price to save his mother and him?</p><p>A thought struck him.</p><p>“Was it…” Luke whispered. “Your skin?” </p><p>“What?” Anakin growled. </p><p>Luke looked at the pale and scarred skin. Giving up one’s vitality, one’s health, one’s own body was a common payment in magic.</p><p>"No. My skin is Kenobi's fault." </p><p>Luke's eyes widened. Ben did that? No, Ben would never do that! He had told him his father was like his brother. "He wouldn't..."</p><p>His father bared his teeth, yellow eyes flaring. "Well, he did! One of the people I trusted the most, the one I looked up to as a father figure; he cut off my limbs and left me this!"</p><p>Luke backed up as the necromancer stalked forward, the cloak billowing around him.</p><p>"Kenobi didn't even give me the mercy of death. He left me to<em> burn</em>, to die <em>slowly and painfully</em>, with <em>no one</em> there to help me," he snarled, looking more animalistic than human.</p><p>“That... that still doesn’t answer the question," Luke said, voice trembling slightly. "What price did you pay?” </p><p>“What I paid is inconsequential, as the spell did not work. I was unable to save your mother.” </p><p>Luke wanted to push on. Even if the spell hadn’t worked, his father still had to pay something to get it to work. Had he paid too little?</p><p>But before he could ask again, Anakin turned away. "It is of no importance," he said. "I could not save her life. But with what I have since learned, I can bring it back." </p><p>Luke's mouth dropped open when he realized where this was going. </p><p>"You should not have come looking to resurrect your father, Luke," Anakin continued lowly, "for Anakin Skywalker is dead, and I am glad of it; he will not be returning. But his wife <em>will </em>be."</p><p>“Wha—what?! You can’t!” </p><p>His eyes narrowed onto Luke. “Were you not the one who but hours ago wanted to raise your dead father?” the sorcerer asked. </p><p>“To ask him a question! To have a conversation! Not t-to bring him back for good. The price for that... to actually bring someone fully back to life, and not just some animated corpse...”</p><p>“If you wanted to commune with the dead, you should have sought out a medium,” his father scoffed dismissively. “But I will tell you again, Anakin Skywalker can never return. No one needs him. No one wants him.” </p><p>“I want him!”</p><p>"No you don't," he growled, and Luke’s face gave way to hurt. Did his father really think that no one wanted him back? That no one in the galaxy missed him, or thought about him, about the memories from <em>before </em>he was Vader?</p><p>Well then, he was wrong. His son didn't want his mother right now; although he would want to meet her; he wanted his dad.</p><p>"I do," Luke simply replied, staring his father, the one he had never met, the hero of the Clone Wars, in the eye. "I want my father," he repeated, "And if my mother were alive, I would want her too. But she is not, and he is; <em>you</em> are alive." </p><p>"Anakin Skywalker is dead." </p><p>"I don't care about your name; I care about you. You are my father, you are still the same man who loved my mother, and please-" his voice broke, but he kept talking, "-please. I don't know what the price would be, but it's not something I want you to have to pay."</p><p>Vader's eyes widened minutely. "It will not be an easy task, my son," Vader warned. There was a weight to those words, something heavy, something that Luke didn't fully understand.</p><p>But Luke knew of his father's past; it had been in the stories, after all, and he was not going to hold that against anything. Even if he didn't understand it fully, Luke couldn't find it in himself to care. "I don't care," he repeated quietly. "You're alive. Mother is not. No matter how difficult letting go of her might be...if you come with me, we will be able to move on." </p><p>"Oh, my son," Vader laughed mirthlessly, lifting his arm, a thin black line ringed around his wrist. "You still do not know the original price I paid."</p><p>Luke stared at the line. Whatever that mark was he didn't have a good feeling about it. "Father...what did you pay? Let me understand." </p><p>Vader only laughed once more. "Oh, my innocent son..."</p><p>There was an unease growing in his stomach. </p><p>“The price I paid was the burning of the Jedi Temple and all the lives in it,” Vader said. </p><p>“No,” Luke said. His voice was weak and barely audible. “No, no, it couldn’t be!” he cried. Seventeen words. Was that really all that it took?</p><p>“But it is. That is why there is no going back for me. Now you understand.” Luke's silence urging him on, Vader continued, "You can never redeem me from all the lives I have taken. I sliced down the masters who scorned me, the knights who had underestimated me, <em>every single person</em> in the temple."</p><p>"Even the children?" Luke whispered in a small voice, but it rang loud through the empty room.</p><p>Vader slowly turned his head towards his son, his glowing eyes accentuating his regretful smile. "<em>Even the children</em>."</p><p>Luke shook his head. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. "No. You couldn't. You wouldn't."</p><p>“But I did,” Vader snarled as he stalked towards Luke. The Dark Side pulsed, oppressive and heavy, made powerful in the small space from feasting on Vader’s emotions. “They all underestimated me, they were all evil!”</p><p>“Some were children! They were innocent!”</p><p>“They would follow in the Jedi’s footsteps, and I killed them all the same.”</p><p>“No,” Luke shook his head, needing a moment to process this, needing a moment to <em>think. </em>“No, no, no—”</p><p>“You cannot deny this, son. I am a monster; you should stick to your mother’s footsteps, reclaim Naboo’s crown, and stop your fruitless faith in me.” </p><p>“No, I won’t.” His voice cracked, but he managed to whisper, “I know that you’re lying.”</p><p>"I had to save your mother...I-I couldn't just let her die!"</p><p>"Then why isn't she here?"</p><p>Vader froze in his spot at Luke's words. </p><p>Something had gone wrong and his mother ended up<em> dead</em>. Luke still refused to believe his father would- would <em>kill </em>all of the Jedi like that, <em>including the children</em>. He couldn't have.</p><p>“I was lied to.” Vader’s anger was cold and icy, so unlike the usually hot and fiery rage. Resentment was obvious in his tone as finally, the hurricane of emotions burst. "He became my mentor, only to deceive me! He didn't care for me at all, only wanting <em>my</em> power for himself, under his control! I thought I could trust someone, and I did, but <em>every single person</em> broke it. People left me, people betrayed me, and it made me into what I am today."</p><p>A flood of memories assaulted Luke, Vader's emotions finally slipping the control the necromancer usually kept. Scratched out images. Traitor. His own scar. Even as the onslaught of memories continued in the Force, tears formed in Luke's eyes and threatened to fall. </p><p>“I see,” he whispered. “It’s true. It’s all true.”</p><p>His father had been there for everybody, trying his best to put others before himself, and all he got in return was scorn. The images in the scrying bowl had shown a Togruta's smile fading away into sadness, an elderly man's grin turning sinister, and so much more.</p><p>And Luke had felt the anger that had filled his father at being rejected from the position of Jedi Master, the rage that threatened to overflow during the war, the whole host of negative emotions that the Jedi despised.</p><p>But more than that, he had felt Anakin's emotions as he saw how his father would rush to his mother's house. Luke had experienced firsthand how Anakin's anger was set aside at the sight of his wife, both of them smiling as he picked her up and spun her around, her tinkly laugh filling the apartment.</p><p>Anakin Skywalker had destroyed the Jedi to save the Queen of Naboo and everything had changed in an instant. That was why people talked about his father like he was a curse, a horrible person who was better off dead. That was why his aunt Sabé couldn't look at him anymore, for the scar that Luke shared with the elder Skywalker. But there had to be good left in his father, he knew it. Luke would be damned if he didn't try to bring that part of his father back. He would save his father, he would.</p><p>"Go home, Luke," Vader warned, as if he could read his son's mind. "Leave this place, these memories behind, and leave me to my work. I will give you back your mother, but there is nothing else that I can offer you."</p><p>"If you paid so high a price last time and it didn't even work, what price will you pay now?" Luke demanded, stubbornly standing his ground.  "And how can you think any of this is what <em>she</em> would want?</p><p>“I never got to meet my mother, but I know Padmé Amidala would not want this," Luke continued. He had heard stories about her growing up with his aunt Sabé. She wouldn't want her husband to do something like this for her. </p><p>"Luke. <em>Go</em>." </p><p>"I'm not leaving you."</p><p>Vader's breath audibly caught. "If you don't go, I will be forced to make you leave."</p><p>"No. I love you, Father, and I am not leaving you." It was a sudden declaration to make, for a father that Luke had only met, that the rest of the world despised, but the Force, the pure, raw magic of the world sang in Luke's ears even as Vader froze in shock.</p><p>The necromancer continued to stare at Luke with yellow eyes that seemed to dim slightly in their intensity. "L-Love me? You’re more foolish than I thought. How could you possibly love me?"</p><p>"Because my mother did." It was as simple an answer as he could offer. "She loved you, and you loved her. I'm the living proof of that, aren't I?" </p><p>Vader was silent, but his head tilted slightly, an unspoken acknowledgment of the truth in Luke's words.</p><p>But he turned away. “It matters not. I will not turn down this path. I have spent the last nineteen years preparing this. It is too late to stop now, my son.” </p><p>“It’s never too late!” Luke said as he ran over and grabbed his father’s arm. “Please. Father.”</p><p>Vader looked over his shoulder. His eyes were soft and sad, and hope flared in Luke’s heart. “You are stubborn. Like your mother. For now, you will sleep,” Vader said.</p><p>Before Luke could process what his father said, two fingers were lifted to his forehead.</p><p>The Force flared, and Luke fell unconscious.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Luke woke up. It took some time to get out of bed. His head spun and he was groggy. Where was Vader? Where had he gone? He had to stop him. Leaning heavily on the walls, he walked out of the room and down the hall into what looked to be an office. It was covered in notes and diagrams that were filled with runes and pentagrams and spell glyphs. </p><p>He stared at one piece of paper for a long time trying to puzzle what any of it meant. </p><p>All of this seemed to be the work on one massive spell. Luke had never seen or heard of anything like it before. He wasn't sure what it did, but he didn't like its name. </p><p>The Death Star.</p><p>He grimaced just looking at the name, glancing over his shoulder nervously. There was a miniature of a dark-haired woman - Luke's grandmother? - perched on a shelf in the study. He felt her eyes on him as he gathered up the documents, stuffing the sheaves of paper under his coat, turned to run-</p><p>And froze. </p><p>A silhouette blocked the doorway. Luke backed away, but after a moment he realized it wasn't Vader's: it was a mousy-faced, middle-aged man, with a neat grey uniform and a rapier at his hip that he drew with a sigh. "Your father instructed me not to let you leave the house, sir," he said apologetically.</p><p>“I want to see him,” Luke said, crossing his arms as he glared at the sword, “and I don’t think you can actually do anything with that. Not without displeasing him.”</p><p>The man grimaced, keeping his sword up. “I don’t know what kind of education was given to you in the blade, but I am a member of the Imperial Army and one of your father’s aides. And he is not a man who suffers fools or incompetence. Do you really think he would order me to keep you contained if he thought I couldn’t do it without harming you?”</p><p>Luke didn't doubt the man, but he looked around for some sort of weapon. But besides some quills and books, there were none. No matter. It wasn't like he had come unprepared to meet a necromancer. He may still be a novice at magic, but he did know a few spells.</p><p>“<em>Ignis</em>!" Luke shouted as he snapped his hand up. A fireball shot out through the air. He ran, hoping the diversion worked.</p><p>There was some vicious cursing, the clatter of a sword falling to the ground, and then Luke bolted out the door, past the man, and down the corridor. More cursing followed him, then footsteps pounded down, muffled by the carpet; they sounded like they were gaining on him, but he didn't turn around to look. </p><p>He just caught glimpses of the house as he ran through it: small paintings, dull dark-wooded walls, and a threadbare carpet. He ran under a chandelier at some point, and as he heard the man gain even more-</p><p>Luke waved his hand, and tried to grip it with magic, tried to loosen it...just a little.</p><p>"<em>Solvite</em>!"</p><p>A high-pitched creaking noise was heard as screws loosened. </p><p>Yes. It was going to work. He turned to head down the hall. No doubt the door was closed. </p><p>But just as he should have heard the sound of a crashing chandelier, something large and heavy ran into him. They both went crashing into the ground.</p><p>“You stupid, foolish boy!” Luke looked up to see a man a few years older than him, glaring down at him with the same yellow-tinged eyes as his father. “Do you have<em> any </em>idea what you’re doing? And how close you came to <em>killing</em> us all?”</p><p>“<em>There is freedom in death,</em>" Luke whispered instinctively. He’d read the motto in one of his father's hidden journals. For some reason, the idea remained with him since he was little, like it was stitched into his heart. Luke watched as the man recoiled from him, something like fear and wonder etched into the lines of his face.</p><p>“You-" the man said, still flinching back. Luke tried to meet his gaze sullenly and solidly, channeling the impression he’d got from his father in their mere minutes of interaction. “How do you-"</p><p>“You have no idea who I am,” Luke bluffed ominously. And then, as the man continued to stagger back, Luke brought the chandelier down.</p><p>He had his chance. It was time to run. He ran past the young man, down the hall, and then opened the door to fresh air and-</p><p> A squad of Imperial soldiers.</p><p>Luke nearly screamed when a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the house. He snapped his head up and saw the same yellow-eyed man from before connected to the hand on his arm. Luke stumbled as the man guided them down a hallway Luke didn’t see in his dash to the world outside these walls. </p><p>“What are you doing?!” Luke furiously whispered. No one was in the hallway with them, but that didn’t mean it was safe. </p><p>“Saving your life,” he answered gruffly. “No one outside received Lord Vader’s orders. They would’ve shot you on sight without a second thought.”</p><p>“But..." </p><p>"But what?" the man snapped. "You thought because you're the first prisoner Vader's left alive for more than a night, you're special somehow?" </p><p>"I didn't say that," Luke protested.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>But Galen <em>did</em> know that the boy was special, he simply didn’t say anything. Galen had plenty of experience with those who Lord Vader kept as guests. But none had been left so unmarked and untethered with orders not to be harmed than this boy.</p><p>"Tell me, boy, why would the lord order the others to keep you in the castle?" he said, lips twisting.</p><p>The boy tried to step away, but Galen had retained his grip. "I'm not going to tell you," he hissed, "this is between me and Vader."</p><p>Galen didn't say anything, examining the other's face. He had only seen his lord's face merely <em>once</em>, but the image would forever be imprinted in his memory. His eyes narrowed as a thought came to his mind.</p><p>No, it was ridiculous. He should dismiss it.</p><p>But something in the Force told him instead to look closer. </p><p>“Let go of me,” the boy said, trying in vain to free his arm. Galen tightened his hold on it. </p><p>“Are you Lord Vader’s?”</p><p>The boy's brows furrowed. "Lord Vader's what?"</p><p>How <em>dare</em> the boy play dumb with Galen, of all people, Starkiller, Vader's apprentice- but if he truly <em>was</em> Lord Vader's son, Galen could not afford to harm the boy. “Child?” Galen growled. His only acknowledgment was silence. “Relative? I am not blind, boy. You look just like him, especially with that scar.”</p><p>“How long have you worked for Vader? Have you ever heard he had a son?” </p><p>It was Galen’s turn to be silent. He had been with Vader since he was nine, and in that time, there had been no hint Vader was even interested in more carnal activities and fraternizing with ladies, much less having a child. Accidentally or not. Yet the resemblance was uncanny.</p><p>“Did he create you? He was looking into <em>crafting</em> rituals long before I came around. Are you what he was searching for?” Galen demanded, his lips pulled back in a snarl.</p><p>At Galen's words, the boy reeled, eyes wide. "Searching?" In the space of the next heartbeat, he said, "No," in a voice barely more than a whisper.</p><p>He growled, glancing around. Seeing a door, Galen pushed the boy into a room. It was a sparse and plain bedroom, but the only entrance was the door. It would do. Just as he shut the door, the boy turned around in time to watch as Galen muttered, "<em>Sero</em>." There. The lock should prevent the boy from escaping while Galen interrogated him.</p><p>Kindly, of course. No physical harm could come to him.</p><p>The boy only frowned at Galen. “I’ll answer your question if you answer mine,” he offered. </p><p>“I’m not letting you out.” If the boy thought that Galen would fall for such a simple trick-</p><p>“Wasn’t going to ask. I just want some information.” </p><p>Galen let one of his eyebrows rise in obvious disbelief. “Don’t know if I have it.” It was a clear deflection to both of them.</p><p>Pursing his lips, the boy forged ahead without care for the clearly implied denial. “What is the Death Star?”</p><p>Galen hesitated. Surely, if Lord Vader planned to keep the boy, there was no way for such a secret to be kept. “Power,” he said finally. “It is my master’s greatest achievement. His life’s work.” </p><p>“But what <em>is</em> it?” he pressed. “What does it do?”</p><p>“It is a weapon," Galen said. "Does the name not give it away? The Death Star is an unmatched weapon, capable of destroying a whole city." </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Luke suddenly found it hard to breathe. </p><p>What was the price? </p><p><em>What was the price?</em> </p><p>Vader had burned down the entire Jedi Temple in his attempts to save his wife and failed. Was he aiming to-</p><p>No. He wouldn't.</p><p>Would he?</p><p>"What is the price of necromancy?" Luke asked quietly. </p><p>The other man - a necromancer, a Sith, he had to be - frowned. "What?" </p><p>"The price." Vader had refused to tell him. "What does it take to achieve it?" </p><p>"A sacrifice. Suffering." The Sith smiled, dreamy gaze at odds with the brutal subject matter. "Personal suffering can work-"</p><p>Luke thought of Vader's bald head, his raw sores</p><p>"-but if you offer the magic enough collateral lives as payment, that works too. Now, I’ve answered your questions. Answer mine. What are you to Lord Vader?” the necromancer asked, impatience obvious in the way his voice hardened.</p><p>But Luke’s mind was spinning. How much time did he have? When was Vader planning to use this spell? Where?</p><p>"I am not a patient man." The man grinned, cold and cruel. "While I might have to keep you alive, there's nothing saying I can't give you another scar," he warned Luke in a low growl, "so I suggest you answer me. What are you to my master?" </p><p>"I... I'm..."</p><p>"That's enough," Vader boomed from the doorway. </p><p>The Sith and Luke both turned to look at the man. </p><p>"I will tell you what I wish to tell you, Galen." Galen. So that was the necromancer's name.</p><p>"I understand, master." </p><p>Vader walked into the room and closed the door behind him. </p><p>"Now Luke, why did you run away from Piett?"</p><p>That had to be the mousy man, the one with the rapier. "I don't like being held as a prisoner," Luke said, biting his lip as he avoided his father's haunting gaze. "And I could tell I wasn't going to get any answers from him. So I left." </p><p>"The rules I make and the orders I give my underlings are there to protect you, young one."</p><p>"Protect me from what?"</p><p>Luke wasn't a little boy. He could take care of himself. Every day of his life, someone was always by his side, to make sure he <em>stayed safe</em>, to make sure he didn't get into trouble. Even his father, the necromancer standing before him, the one who had been branded as a <em>traitor</em>, wanted him to protect him. They didn't know each other well, so why was it always him?</p><p>“There are... side effects of necromancy. Ones that you do not wish to see. And the Emperor has spies all around me. Were you not the one who wanted to stay?" Luke's father tilted his head, emotions ambiguous. "You can still leave. I shall provide you a horse and escort back home."</p><p>"I'm not leaving you," Luke said, folding his arms stubbornly as he glared up at his father. "I was looking for you. And answers. Maybe both. But I don't plan to leave without either."</p><p>Vader leaned in close and glared down at his son. “Then you are here willingly and will abide by my rules.” </p><p>Luke glanced down at the ground. A moment later, he stared back up to meet the burning golden gaze. “Or what?” he challenged.</p><p>Vader seemed to buffer for a moment trying to think of a suitable threat he'd be willing to carry out. "Or I will send you home by force." </p><p>"And I will come straight back." </p><p>"Not if I appoint Piett to watch over you to ensure you do not." </p><p>He blinked, momentarily taken aback. "That's creepy. And, as clearly demonstrated just now, not going to be effective. Besides," Luke took a deep breath and blinked harshly, surprised at how emotional the words made him before he'd even spoken them, "I want to stay and know my father. Do... do you not want to know me?"</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Well. </p><p>What was he supposed to do now?</p><p>It was embarrassing to admit, but there existed a distinct possibility that Luke hadn't thought quite this far ahead, only knowing that he needed to stay with Vader.</p><p>Luke scowled fiercely and flopped onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He didn’t know what to make of any of this. He only knew what to make of this Death Star: he knew he needed to stop it. </p><p>But how?</p><p>How could he stop his father from chasing the goal he’d fought so hard to achieve for his entire life?</p><p>He supposed... </p><p>Could he report him to an authority? Somewhere? No, his father was <em>Lord Vader</em>. No one would believe Luke about the necromancer's survival, and even if they did, the Empire would hardly arrest him.</p><p>And his father would never forgive him. </p><p>Maybe Luke could destroy his notes? Perhaps he would give up on the Death Star then-</p><p>But he would never give up on trying to resurrect his mother. Luke knew that. Luke tensed up as he realized that there was only one person who would be able to convince Vader.</p><p>His mother.</p><p>And if necromancy was possible, Vader had said that communing with the dead was, too, hadn't he?</p><p>Luke swallowed, and started planning. He'd found the study, just down the hall, when he went exploring earlier. Maybe if he could convince Vader that he wasn't going to escape, convince him to let him out of the room if not the building, he could sneak in there, steal the necessary books and ingredients, and-</p><p>And talk to his mother. </p><p>And when his father inevitably barged in to stop him, force him to talk to her as well.</p><p>It was hours before Vader returned, but that was long enough for Luke to develop a plan. Or at least the start of one. </p><p>"Hello, Father," he said politely. </p><p>"Have you finally cooled?" Vader asked, apparently surprised by Luke's calm demeanor. </p><p>"I have." Luke nodded. "And I wanted to talk to you about...my future, I guess."</p><p>"Your future," Vader answered slowly. </p><p>Luke steeled himself. His plan... it<em> had</em> to work. And if it didn't, he'd be left with nothing. Luke looked his father straight in the eye.</p><p>"Teach me how to be a necromancer."</p><p>Vader was silent for a moment, frowning. "You have changed your tune." </p><p>In response, Luke nodded, again."I have." </p><p>Vader regarded him with narrow eyes for a moment, then asked, "Why?"</p><p>A lump formed in Luke's throat, and he swallowed, let his own grief swallow him whole, for a moment. "I never knew Mother," he managed to say, "I... I miss her too, you know." </p><p>His father's face softened. "You need not worry, then," Vader said. "<em>I</em> will bring her back -- you need not endanger yourself in that way."</p><p>"But I want to help!"</p><p>"You do not need to."</p><p>"Can't I at least understand what you're doing? You're my father, I want to understand your work!"</p><p>For a moment, Luke thought he'd get another resounding <em>no </em>- then, Vader caved. "Very well, I will find some books so that you may study it - and perhaps you can watch, from a safe distance, when it happens."</p><p>“Thank you,” Luke said, choosing to take the small victory rather than fight and lose what little progress he  had made. </p><p>“Don’t get any ideas, young one,” Vader warned. “If I catch you in any form of disobedience, you will be disciplined accordingly.”</p><p>“I understand, Father.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Luke got ideas immediately.</p><p>The books delivered to him were clear—and pretty horrifying, but understandable. He studied them until his eyes burned in his skull, he sketched symbols in pencil until they spidered across page after page, he practiced the chants in front of the mirror, pretending he couldn’t hear Galen laughing at him from outside.</p><p>By the time Vader came in with a benevolent smile to tell him that he had done it, he was about to perform the ceremony, Luke was ready.</p><p>He knew exactly how to turn it from a resurrection to a mere summoning— and he knew exactly how to talk to his mother.</p><p>Vader came to fetch Luke from his room on the day of the resurrection, and Luke didn't fail to notice it was his birthday- the anniversary of his mother's death. He smiled tightly when his father smiled at him, and hoped he chalked it up to nervousness. </p><p>The salon, or... <em>resurrection room</em>... that Vader had led Luke into, had been completely rearranged. The scrying bowl had been pushed into a corner, the fancy rug rolled back, and chalk circles lined in runes and symbols spidered around the floor in a large, loose ring. Luke took stock of them, fist tightening around the stick of chalk kept in his pocket- took stock of which ones he would need to erase, which ones he would need to change, in order to change it from a resurrection ritual to a summoning one. When the distraction he'd tricked Galen into arranging got his father out of the room, Luke would only have a few minutes.</p><p>An urn of his mother's ashes sat in the centre of the ring of circles; Luke tried not to look at it.</p><p>Vader turned to look at Luke. "We will begin by-" </p><p>An officer burst into the room, throwing open the door with a loud crash. "Sir, there's been an emergency, Starkiller-" </p><p>"What did that fool do <em>this</em> time," Vader muttered angrily. Raising his voice, to Luke he added, "Do not touch anything while I am gone."</p><p>"Yes, Father," Luke said, playing the dutiful son as he folded his hands behind his back and nodded in respect. Vader swept out of the room, leaving Luke alone with the circle. </p><p>As soon as the door latched, he bent down and started scratching out the runes. The feeling of racing to be done before Vader returned, while still going slowly enough to make sure there were no mistakes was enough to make him sweat.</p><p>By the end of it, his back was soaked and his hands covered in chalk dust; he grimaced at the white smudges on the floor, tried to rub them away with his hands, then tried to wipe his hands on his robes. </p><p>His <em>black</em> robes. </p><p>Bad idea. Luke switched to rubbing them against the inside of his robes and hoped the dust wasn't noticeable. </p><p>Vader stormed back in, grumbling about incompetent apprentices, then paused when he saw Luke still sitting in the chair where he'd left him, hands dutifully folded across his knees. He said, "That is the sort of obedience and thought an apprentice should have." Then, he turned back to the symbols - Luke held his breath - and after a moment that felt like a lifetime but was probably closer to a few seconds, turned away to get the next ingredient for the spell.</p><p>"You remember the incantations?" Vader asked as he added the last pinches of herbs into the silver chalice he was holding. </p><p>"Yes, Father," Luke confirmed, taking the cup so that Vader could light the strange candles used for this ritual, candles where the flames would flicker through every color in the spectrum. </p><p>"Then begin. And," Vader paused to take a wheezing breath, "it must be perfect, Luke. You know this, don't you?" </p><p>"I won't let you down, I promise."</p><p>Vader gave a rare smile, then, something that twisted Luke's gut. "I know you will not." </p><p>Luke tried not to scream. </p><p>His father bent down to light the candles... and it was only when he'd lit the last one that he froze, squinting - <em>glaring - </em>at the changed symbol. </p><p>He started chanting before Vader could say anything, before he could interrupt Luke - he knew how dangerous interrupting a spell was, once it was started it could not be stopped - but Vader whipped his head around to glare at him. </p><p>
  <em>"What have you done?"</em>
</p><p>"Invocato tua spiritu, Padmé Amidala, mater mea!" Luke shouted over the voice of his father, and a roar began to fill the room, a sudden gust of wind whipping around them. </p><p>Vader seemed paralyzed, not wanting to disturb the potion that Luke still held in his hands, not wanting to sacrifice what was left of his work. </p><p>"Luke..." </p><p>But it wasn't his father who said the words.</p><p>Luke turned his head and stared at the circle- no. At the figure of a woman trapped inside it. </p><p>She glowed with a blue hue, as incorporeal as smoke, with long hair that drifted about her shoulders and a long dress patterned with flowers. The moment he locked eyes with her, he couldn't look away; from his father's stunned silence, he couldn't either.</p><p>He walked forwards as if in a trance as she held out her hand, and Luke automatically made to take it, fingertips ghosting over the edge of the summoning ring-</p><p>"Don't cross inside," Vader snapped.</p><p>There was a harsh bite to it, a tone that made Luke wince with the knowledge of the betrayal his father must have felt. But as Vader stared at the spirit, his features softened. "Padmé..." he said, trailing off. </p><p>She smiled, soft and sad. "Anakin." </p><p>At the sound of the name, Vader stiffened.</p><p>"That hasn't been my name in a long time," he said coldly.</p><p>"It is the name of the man I loved, the man who loved me, the father of my children," the long-dead Queen replied, her voice lightly distorted and echoing. "Oh, Ani, what have you done? What have you become?"</p><p>Vader's scarred face twisted. "I have <em>become</em> nothing. And all I have done is what was necessary." </p><p>"You killed <em>children</em>, Ani," the Queen said, patient yet somehow accusing. "You betrayed Naboo. What could possibly be worth <em>that</em>?" </p><p>"You!" his father snarled, golden eyes flashing. "Everything I did- the choices I made - the <em>sacrifices</em> I made - all of it - all of it was for <em>you</em>, Padmé, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat, to save your life."</p><p>"One person isn't worth that," Padmé replied. </p><p>"You are!" Vader screamed. </p><p>Luke's eyes widened in surprise as he watched his two parents fight. His father had done all those terrible things for his mother, and Luke had known that on an objective level. But until that moment, it had never been quite so visceral.</p><p>"Anakin, you have to stop this. Stop it all, for me, for our kids!"</p><p>"I am doing all of this for you! So we can all be together, like we always should have been!" </p><p>"It is too late for that!" Despite the volume of her voice, Padmé remained sad and serene. "You're chasing something that's no longer possible. Our children are grown, there's no going back to the beginning. You have to let me go." </p><p>"<strong><em>Never</em></strong>."</p><p>“I am never going to come back,” Padmé said. “You will never manage to make me come back.” </p><p>“Luke may have sabotaged this experiment—“ and at that, the <em>glare</em> Luke received could have shriveled his soul. "But-” </p><p>“You need me to come willingly,” she reminded Vader, lips quirked upwards in a strange sort of satisfaction, “in order for the magic to work. And even if Luke does not continue to be the voice of reason and stop you, <em>as I want him to</em>... I will not come.”</p><p>"How can you say that?" Vader's voice cracked. "Padmé, I did all of this for you, for us." </p><p>"You did it for yourself. For the love of power that you still hold, that you still think you need. I want no part of it," the phantom of Luke's mother insisted firmly. </p><p>"Mother," Luke finally found his voice, and the spirit turned towards him with a warm, loving smile, completely unlike the grim expression she'd reserved for Vader.</p><p>“Luke,” she replied, a radiant glow to her smile. </p><p>He reached one outstretched hand to his mother, growing as close to the ritual as he dared. “I... I always wanted to meet you.” Luke felt a burning in the corner of his eyes.</p><p>"I know." The words were as gentle as a breeze. "And I have wanted to meet you for all the years I've watched over you." She dropped her hands, stopped reaching for him. "I am so proud of you." </p><p>Luke's eyes stopped burning, and started flooding; he didn't move to wipe the wetness off his soaked cheeks.</p><p>“And yet you would still abandon him?” Vader demanded, his tone growing accusing. “You would refuse me and everything I have done for the sake of this family?” </p><p>“You are the one who abandoned us. You burnt everything we’d fought for to the ground, you broke my heart, you broke the <em>world</em> for a lie.”</p><p>"It is no <em>lie-</em>" </p><p>"Then why," Padmé hissed, "are you like <em>this,</em>" she gestured at him, then herself, "and <em>why am I dead</em>?" </p><p>"You need not be-" </p><p>"But I am. And that will not change." She gave Luke a sad look. "I am glad, though, that I got to speak with you... one last time."</p><p>“Mother...” </p><p>“Give my love to Leia too,” Padmé said, her form shimmering. “I have to go now.” </p><p>“Do not leave me again!” Vader begged. “Padmé, please...”</p><p>Padmé’s form vanished into smoke, then nothing. Luke felt a sense of loss as she disappeared, but his father... </p><p>Vader was on his knees, curled in on himself and clutching his chest. </p><p>“I did it all for you,” he whispered. “Don’t leave me. Padmé...”</p><p>“Father...” Luke started to edge towards Vader, who looked up at him with burning hatred in his eyes. </p><p>“How could you betray me like this?” he hissed. “<em>Years</em> of study and practice wasted! Get out!” </p><p>"But, Father-"</p><p>“Get <em>out</em>!” Vader roared. “You- <em>you are no son of min</em><em>e</em>!”</p><p>Luke's eyes widened in shock. It took a moment for those words to actually hit, before he whirled around, running away. He didn't know where, but it would be far away from here. Far, far away. A small part of him insisted that it only needed to be temporary, until his father calmed down, but the rest of Luke knew.</p><p>He knew that his father would never forgive him.</p><p>All his life, Luke had always wondered who his father truly was. Yes, he loved Beru and Owen, the guardians he’d had left, but he always had a sense for <em>more</em>. Aunt Sabé and the rest of the royal family loved him, he knew that, but there was a distance separating them, a distance that Luke's father had caused.</p><p>And when Ben had finally told him who his father actually was, Luke couldn't bring himself to feel any hate towards him. Instead, he had only felt a burning desire to discover what had transformed Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight and Clone Wars Hero, General of Naboo, Consort to Queen Amidala, into Darth Vader.</p><p>Luke had scoured the world, in search of him, and now- </p><p>A tear made his way onto his cheek and he scrubbed it away quickly, blinking his eyes.</p><p>He took a step back. Then another, then another, then another. He tripped over his black robes and shucked them off, a scream building in his throat, and stumbled into, grasped for, and stumbled out the door. </p><p>He'd been sure his father would listen to his mother- if Vader didn't, how would Luke ever hope he would listen to him? </p><p>But Vader hadn't. </p><p>So Luke ran, and ran, and ran, and not even the men standing guard at the front door could stop him from crashing through the door, through the magical barrier around the house, through the light, and then into the darkness.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Vader was left kneeling on the floor, staring unmoving at the destruction of all he’d built, and he could not bring himself to get up.</p><p>The chalk patterns around the circle, half-burnt out from the force of the spell, mocked him. How had he not noticed? How had he not realized his son was plotting against him? Of course, he would turn on him, just like everyone else, why had he not expected it?</p><p>But Vader knew why.</p><p>He was the only one Vader had left.</p><p>Especially now that Padmé…</p><p>Padmé…</p><p>He closed his eyes for a moment, the cutting glance she’d given him piercing him right through, even in memory.</p><p>Padmé was never coming back.</p><p>Tears started to form, and he fought them back. He would not cry. He had not cried in decades and he would not start now. </p><p>Why hadn’t she wanted to come back? He didn’t understand. They could be together again, all of them. She never had a chance to even know her children, and she would pass that up? Pass <em>him </em>up?</p><p>His eyes started to burn, but the tears did not fall. </p><p>He couldn’t live without her. All these years, he had forced himself to keep going all for the sake that one day he would see her again. And now? What did he have to live for? What did he have to his name? Nothing. </p><p>“<em>It’s not nothing, Father.</em>”</p><p>Vader’s breath hitched in his chest as the memory took hold of him. </p><p>Sunlight streamed in from the windows, and Luke stood by a small work table smoothing out a piece of paper Vader had just crumbled up and thrown on the floor. He flipped over and started tracing the magic circle from the other side, but then he started to add new runes. </p><p>“<em>Watch</em>,” he said, pricking his finger with a small sharp pick.</p><p>A small drop of blood landed on the paper. With the cost paid, the magic sprung to life. A ball of light floated a few inches above the paper. </p><p>“<em>It also emits heat</em>,” Luke said proudly. “<em>Could be quite useful in the right circumstance.</em>”</p><p>“<em>With only a drop of a blood, it will only last a few more moments. For it to be of any practical use, it would need to last much longer and thus have a much higher cost when a regular flame can do the same thing</em>,” Vader said dismissing the idea. </p><p>He had turned away and returned to his work on the Death Star, though Vader had looked over his shoulder to see Luke looking at the paper long after the light had disappeared. He had thought his son foolish and easily distracted.</p><p>But Vader had been the fool. Luke had been the genius to take Vader’s own magic, alter it, and make something new from it. That was no easy task and took a real eye and talent. Vader had been so focused on finishing his spell, on finally bringing back Padme, that he had failed to see Luke’s talent.</p><p>Perhaps if he had, Vader would have double-checked the boy’s work. He might have noticed the tampering with his spell. He . . .</p><p>A tear rolled down his cheek. </p><p>He had been so focused on his work, his goal. He’d lashed himself to it like it would keep him from keeling over, with no time for anything else- not his son, not his daughter, not life itself. Why?</p><p>Because of Padmé.</p><p>Because he needed her back.</p><p>But she was never coming back.</p><p>So… what now?</p><p>Was he to sit here forever, wallowing in his own failure- his own foolishness, at dismissing his son until it was too late? Was he to do nothing but regret, and regret, and regret, like he had for all these years?</p><p>Luke had been so proud of that tiny spell…</p><p>And somehow, the mere memory of his smile cast that same spell, and lit a ball of light deep in his chest.</p><p>
  <em>"Get <strong>out</strong>!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"<strong>You are no son of mine</strong>!"</em>
</p><p>Vader took a deep breath in and traced the chalk patterns on the floor with slow, mournful fingers.</p><p>Then, he rose to his feet.</p><p>All was not lost.</p><p>He had his clever, traitorous, hopeful son, and this time, he would not look away from the light he made.</p><p>When Vader strode out the door, he did not look back.</p>
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